Chapter 6

“Executive Director?”

“Ah, yes. What is it?”

Ijun, who had been staring out through the floor-to-ceiling window spanning one wall of the office, came to his senses and turned his head.

Standing in front of his desk was Assistant Manager Ahn Jimin from the secretarial office.

He had not even heard a knock, so when had she come in?

Quite some time had passed since the aftermath of his broken engagement with Harin had been settled and the commotion around him had quieted down. Even so, Ijun seemed somehow different from before.

Every now and then, he would fall blankly into thought.

It was because of the memory that kept surfacing.

A small, pale face, long lashes cast beneath closed eyelids, and small lips from which soft, even breaths had escaped.

‘Senior, thank you for coming to pay respects when my father passed away. It comforted me because of that.’

And that calm voice that had sounded almost like a whisper after a moment’s hesitation, along with those gentle eyes.

Since that day, he had neither seen Song Seoyun again nor had any reason to contact her. She had not asked him for anything either.

And yet, was the reason she kept bothering him like this because something had happened to him that never had before? What exactly was this lingering, unidentifiable feeling?

“Executive Director, the head of the Information Security Office has just come up.”

“The head of the Information Security Office?”

“Yes. He says there’s something urgent he needs to report.”

“Tell him to come in.”

No sooner had Assistant Manager Ahn bowed and stepped out of the office than Chief Choi of the Information Security Office hurried in with quick steps.

“What is it?”

“Yes, Executive Director. An emergency situation has occurred, so I came to report it.”

“An emergency situation?”

Judging by his impatient manner and the cold sweat on his face, it certainly did seem to be something urgent. Despite having approached Ijun’s desk quickly, Chief Choi hesitated and could not speak easily.

“You said it was urgent.”

“Yes. Executive Director, well…. We discovered that the central server has been hacked.”

“What? Hacked?”

It was unexpected news. Ijun stared blankly for a moment, then spoke again with a dubious expression.

“That’s possible?”

“There’s no such thing as a perfect system in this world, of course, but I thought the security network we built on our company server would be difficult for even Kevin Mitnick to break through. I-I don’t understand how this could have happened either…….”

Chief Choi fidgeted anxiously and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.

“So what exactly was hacked, and how?”

“It seems they infiltrated through a backdoor with a very specific purpose and immediately accessed the Strategic Planning Office and your account, Sir.”

The Strategic Planning Office and his own account….

Whoever it was, it certainly seemed clear that they had a definite objective. Those were the accounts where the most important information and materials related to Daejeong Electronics were stored. Each data file was password-protected, but to a hacker who had already breached the company server, something like that would have been nothing.

Ijun straightened from where he had been leaning back in his chair. This truly was, just as Chief Choi had said, an emergency.

Top-secret data related to major technologies was handled separately, but materials related to management, such as sales performance and marketing plans, might have been leaked intact.

“What was taken, and how much? What’s the scale?”

“The number of types of data they extracted is not actually that large. Here…….”

With trembling hands, Chief Choi held out the prepared list of leaked data to Ijun. Frowning, Ijun scanned through it.

‘EM report’

From the very beginning, it felt a little anticlimactic. It was a report related to the selection of Daejeong Electronics’ exclusive model. A file that contained thorough records of the model’s grade and image, background and circumstances, even rumors and private life.

And the second was a file for crisis response situations. It was a compilation of issues from the entertainment and political worlds, gathered to divert public attention during crises such as problems related to company business operations or rumors involving the owner family.

Ijun took his eyes off the list for a moment and fell into thought.

If someone intended to sell it off for money somewhere, it was certainly useful information. But even so, would it not amount to no more than a few hundred million won at most?

If it became known that this data had leaked from Daejeong Electronics’ server, the company would not go entirely unscathed. But it was not a very serious problem, and it was something the crisis management response department could handle well enough.

But that was not the reason Ijun had fallen into thought.

They broke through the ironclad central server of Daejeong Electronics just to get data of this level? It was practically like using diamonds to play marbles.

The skill was too good to dismiss as that of a small fry.

“Is this really all there is?”

“Yes, Executive Director. I’m certain of it.”

It was when Ijun turned his gaze back to the list.

The moment he saw a file labeled ‘Ruhe report,’ Ijun froze on the spot like a block of stone.

This file was material Ijun had kept personally. It was extremely private, but depending on the circumstances, it could cause an enormous uproar.

If this file became known to the world, the data leaked earlier would truly become nothing by comparison.

Seeing Ijun’s face stiffen hard, Chief Choi also seemed to realize that something had gone wrong. He could not bring himself to say a word and merely stood there looking as though he might burst into tears at any moment.

After a silence that felt eternal, Ijun finally managed to speak. His finely trembling fingers pressed the buttons on the key phone, and a voice that sounded as though it had been crushed barely forced its way past his lips.

“Tell Chief Hyeon to come in.”

A moment later, the office door opened and Chief Hyeon stepped inside.

“Bring him to me.”

“Pardon?”

Both Chief Hyeon, who did not know what was going on, and Chief Choi, who knew the whole situation, wore troubled expressions.

It was understandable for Chief Hyeon, who did not know the situation, but for Chief Choi, his mind went blank. How was he supposed to know the identity of someone with such ghostlike skills and bring him in?

“By any means necessary.”

“Executive Director…….”

“Catch him at once and drag him in front of me. I’ll give you one day.”

“But…….”

“If you fail, you will not want to know the consequences.”

His tone was like lava on the verge of erupting, barely being forced down.

As one of Ijun’s closest aides, Chief Hyeon quickly read the room, seized Chief Choi by the arm, and pulled him out of the Executive Director’s office. He had served at Ijun’s side for a long time, but it was the first time he had ever seen him this enraged.

Inside an empty meeting room, after hearing the full story from Chief Choi, Chief Hyeon asked with a grave expression,

“Who is the most skilled person in this field? Someone who’ll do anything for money.”

***

After finishing her shift as a cashier at the mart, Seoyun climbed up to the rooftop room with tired steps. Day by day, she felt as though her stamina was giving out more and more.

Today, she felt especially down because of the two phone calls she had received.

The first was from a small or medium-sized company where she had applied for a secretarial position. Although “K-Cell” had crumbled away into dust, it had still been a company that had run solidly for quite a long time, so she had thought that at least it would count as career experience.

‘You said you’re twenty-seven, correct?’

‘Yes. I turned twenty-seven this year.’

‘Ah, your age is a little….’

The hiring manager’s reaction had been truly unexpected. She had never once thought that being twenty-seven meant she was too old to get a job. It seemed they were probably looking for a young and pretty applicant who could act as a mood-maker.

‘Still, please come in for an interview once. We’ll send you the date and time by message.’

The call that came right after was more than enough to drag Seoyun’s mood, which had briefly lifted at getting an interview opportunity, straight down to the floor. It was Changseok, who had contacted her several times since their meeting at the hotel.

‘So, you still haven’t made up your mind? What’s so difficult about it? Seoyun, think about it. How hard would it be for you to do alone what I can do for you? More than anything else, you need to think about Jiho, right?’

‘…….’

‘My kids are in a terrible state too without a mother. You like children, don’t you?’

There was something a little off about calling upper elementary school children “kids” in that way. More than that meaningless attempt to stir sympathy, the words telling her to think about Jiho were several thousand times more effective on Seoyun.

Even so, she could not bring herself to answer right away, and in the end could only let the call trail off vaguely once again.

It was something she had already resolved countless times in her mind. If she kept trying to endure until the very end in front of debts that only kept growing, she might truly reach the point of having to sell her body.

The thought made only a hollow laugh come out.

Seeing bright light spilling from the home at the far end of the rooftop, it looked like Jiho had come home. Even though she was so tired she felt she might collapse at any moment, the sight still made her glad.

She was trudging toward the rooftop room when suddenly hurried footsteps came clattering after her from behind.

Turning around, Seoyun flinched in surprise and took a step back. Two men in black suits were following her.

“W-who are you?”

“Excuse us. Is this the home of Song Jiho?”